Acts 9:2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Acts 19:9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
Acts 19:23 ¶ About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way.
Acts 22:4 “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,
Acts 24:14 “But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophecy. Acts 24:22 But Felix, having a more exact knowledge about the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”
I listed all of these verses because they refer to Christians as being called people of “The Way.” Sadly, many, if not most, western Christians would interpret this as a way of thinking, but it primarily referred to a way of living. I know that Christians are not called to be mindless, but we are called first and foremost to participate in and manifest a quality of life, a life in Christ that is God-given, supernatural, and victorious. Paul didn’t think of himself as a theologian, instead he wrote letters to real people, who were dealing with real life issues and challenges, about how to walk in the WAY that is the life of Christ. To Paul, to live was Christ. All theology that He communicated radically flowed out of his personal experience of being placed into union with the very life of Christ himself. True evangelism is when Christians are walking in the way that is the life of Christ, thus revealing to those on the outside the way to a life unimaginable before they saw it, or Him, lived out before them. Jesus didn’t say He would show us the way; He said He was the way.
Understand that I’m all for theology, but theology must be a proper reflection of radical New Creation. We need to reflect on and explain the WAY, against demonic deceptions, but we must first experience the WAY, or we will create our own intellectual heresies that deny fullness of life; His life, which is THE WAY.